Peace Talks, War Walks
by Nitares
Summary: The signatories of The Accords are summoned for summit in Chicago and Harry Dresden, Winter Knight is sent to Council HQ on a mission.


Disclaimer: I do not own anything Dresden related.

 **Chapter One**

My feet skidded to a halt on the gravel shore. I looked at my older brother.

"Congrats" I said, albeit a little warily. Don't get me wrong, kids are great. Speaking as a father myself twice over they can turn your life inside out and upside down in the best ways possible. I could however see that Thomas wasn't exactly stoked at the prospect of his girlfriend being pregnant.

I had to wonder if I could blame him. Thomas is a White Court vampire, an incubus who has a lust demon inside him the size of your average London bus. To make things worse it's a hereditary condition.

We stood in silence on the shore of Lake Michigan for a few moments, each trying to guage the others' reaction. Until a woman jogging past us suddenly tumbled and careened face first into the shingle.

I turned to help but Thomas caught my arm. "Don't. She took a dive."

I was confused for half a second before the realisation hit me. Part of Thomas' condition involved him being attractive. Ridiculously so. Like, "I'll nosedive into a beach full of rocks just to get his attention" attractive.

I like to think I got the brains.

We turned and headed back towards Thomas' Hummer in silence. It was massive, grey and practically armour plated. We got in and I turned to look at the back seats.

"You going to trade this in for a Kia?" I asked.

He groaned and lay his head on the steering wheel.

"Harry, what am I going to do? I barely keep myself right at the best of times, how am I meant to raise a mini me?"

I thought about that for a second. Thomas had spent his entire adult life trying to manage his hunger and avoid hurting people. He was a good man with freaky amazing willpower but even he'd slipped at the lower points of his life. Like when I'd died for a while.

"How does Justine feel about this?" I asked.

His jaw tensed. "I sort of bailed and came to meet you when she told me."

I promptly punched himin the arm, not bothering to hold back any of my mantle infused strength. "I bet that made her feel fantastic."

"I panicked. A little."

"Yeah, little in the way Gallipoli was a mild tiff." I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose.

"Thomas she loves you and you love her. You're going to have a kid and you're the Yoda of keeping your demon in check. You can handle this."

"Harry I-"

"Handle it." I repeated. "You badgered me past my fears about Maggie. In case you haven't noticed I'm rocking around with a murder demon of my own these days and more nasties gunning for me than you. I've made the time to play piggyback, you can too."

"Uh Harry, teenagers are bad enough as it is. Mine will have an immortal demon paying rent in its head."

I thought about that for a second with a straight, serious face. It lasted for nearly a full minute. Really. "Thomas last time I checked all teenagers were overly horny and tended towards the dark side. Look at me. I shacked up with the girl I grew up with and then burned my foster dad alive. The kid will at least have you to turn to. You can be its compass."

Thomas sat completely still in the driver's seat. Supernaturally still. Mortals can't really do that, our brains are too much of a fustercluck at any one moment.

A ghost of a smile appeared on his face and a second later, a full blown grin. "I'm going to be a dad."

I thumped him on the shoulder again, this time good naturedly. "Look at us. We're getting damn close to being a normal, functioning family. How about we go celebrate at Mac's?"

"Raincheck. I should probably talk to Justine."

I grunted. It was the sensible idea, though the enticing aroma of a bottle of Mac's Dark told me otherwise.

"So speaking of fatherhood. How's the sprogs?" Thomas asked as we drove down the lakefront.

A few months ago I'd decided to hell with everything big, bad and bothersome in the world that wanted my blood. Nothing was going to stop me being a father to my little girl. About a day later I gave birth to another little girl.

I know how ick that sounds but it's not like that. Trust me.

I didn't even have to think when I replied. "It's brilliant."

We drove in relative silence for another ten minutes before pulling into a quiet residential street on the outskirts of the city. Huge viridian Oak trees lined the sidewalks and every garden was fenced with little wooden pickets. Every house on the street looked like a home. None more so than the large colonial with the perfectly tended garden and the honest to goodness white picket fence. We cruised by my friend Micheal's house. He is a former Fist of God with a squad of literal Guardian Angels on his property.

Thankfully the realtor didn't know any of this when I bought the only shabby house there was down the street. I'd recently come into money in the form of a a bag of diamonds stolen from Hades himself. He's actually not a bad guy. It was more than enough to buy and furnish a house for myself, Maggie and Celeste. We parked outside it and sat for a moment.

"I'm serious when I say you can handle this. There's a hundred reasons neither of us should ever have children. I say fuck that."

My brother smiled at me and seemed more at peace than at any other point that day.

"Fuck that." He agreed. We bumped fists, I lumbered out of the murder machine and he drove off down the road to face the music.

I smiled to myself. I honestly did believe things would work out for Thomas and Justine. As I walked up my garden path and thought about how great the last few months had been, I should have known that things were about to go to hell.

I opened my front door and felt my wards slide apart. They were based on the beginning of a beautifully flourishing threshold and I'd spent time every morning reinforcing them. They were at least as strong as the wards on my old apartment and I was going to make sure that before I was done they'd be able to turn away a battalian of nasties without fuss.

Which is why I did a double take when walked into my front room to find my daughter sitting on the knee of the freaking Queen of Winter. Mab was clearly telling her some sort of funny story as Maggie was in a fit of giggles.

"Daddy!" She cried when she spotted me, running to through a hug around my midsection that near toppled me.

"Hi squirt. Are you okay?" I asked, frantically looking for both injuries and signs of mental manipulation.

"Yep. I was playing with Auntie Molly and her friend." She beamed up at me and it did wonders to ease my nerves.

Mab sat in my chair. A big wingbacked monstrosity that had genuine mothballs when I picked it up. It still smelled funky and had various lumps but it was mine.

"What are you doing here?" I asked. Winter frost coated my words, not that it had any effect on the monarch of Winter itself.

"Finally meeting your charming daughter, my Knight. You know how the Sidhe have a way with children. I think she's taken a shine to me."

Molly appeared from the kitchen. She had her snow white hair tied in a ponytail and over her buisness suit she wore my Kiss the chef apron and held a tray of cupcakes fresh from the oven. I noticed she wasn't wearing oven mitts though the tray was still steaming.

"I told you he would not appreciate this intrusion" Mab said to my former apprentice.

Molly set the tray of cupcakes down on the table and handed one to Maggie. "Since when do you care about Harry's peace of mind, Mab?" She asked.

I saw Maggie taking a big bite of the cupcake. It had icing. Of course it had icing.

"Okay stop. What the heck is going on here?" I demanded.

Molly walked over and threw her arms around me in a welcoming embrace. Feeling her pressed up against me had all sorts of thoughts running through my mind and were definitely distracting me from my righteous fury. So I sacked up and pushed her away.

"Alicia was supposed to be babysitting." I stated.

I took an exaggerated look around the apartment.

"I don't see Alicia."

Still in my chair, Mab's eyes shone in amusement. Molly just looked hurt.

"Harry, we had to talk to you so I told Alicia I'd take over. In her defense she didn't want to but I bribed her. Told her I needed time with you. Which I do to be fair."

A few months ago I realised that Micheal had thought there was something going on with Molly and I. Clearly despite the fact I've been seeing Murphy she hadn't corrected him. Or told him she'd become the heir to Winter itself and a practical force of nature.

"So you invite Mab into my house and let her play with my daughter?" I growled. "What the hell, Molls?"

"And you," I turned to Mab. "Since when do you play? If you've messed with her head I swear Mantle or no Mantle I'll dismember you." I said the last low and with a heat that defied everything else in the room.

It takes a lot to threaten Mab. She's one of the most powerful beings this side of anywhere and the freaking General that defends our reality from hideous creatures that are and never were. But hell. The last crowd to hurt my daughter were dust in the wind.

Mab rose and my house shrank.

I'm sure the dimensions didn't really change but everything got darker, colder and a hell of a lot more intense.

Maggie reached for another cupcake.

"Don't assume to-"

"Shh."

Everyone blinked. Molly just shushed the freaking Queen of Air and Darkness.

"Right now the three of us are on the same team, however willingly." She added with a pointed look in my direction. The three of us here know the stakes involved and we can't afford for you to keep being pointlessly snarky, Harry."

I blinked again.

Mab smiled and inclined her head.

"That goes for you too, Mab. You have no reason to keep needling him and reminding him how easily you could take everything away and crush him. People give him that schtick all the time and it's never worked out for them. Both of you sit down. Maggie, I think I hear Mouse waking up in the yard."

My daughter cheered and bolted out the back door to play with Mouse, our Tibetan Mastiff slash gorillasaurus rex.

"With everything going on I think it would be prudent if you two were on the same page. Mab, you need a Knight and Harry is the best damned Winter Knight you could ask for because of who he is. We need the best, not another Slate. Harry, Mab puts you in crappy situations but you know what's going on. Things are coming to a head and believe it or not, you do an awful lot of good in your role as Knight that you can't see. If you were turning evil you wouldn't still have Uriel dropping in on you."

Mab stared at Molly, cold thunder in her eyes.

"Uh, My Queen." Molly added uncertainly.

"Despite, the Winter Lady's complete lack of respect, she has a point. I don't wish to fight you on everything.

I stood there, flustered at the display of reckless attitude Molly had just shown Mab. People had been literally wiped from existence for less.

Mab clearly picked up on my confusion. "I allow Molly to speak to me openly much as I often do for you, my Knight. To a certain degree. Such insolence in public, however would merit punishment." The last word was caressed, almost lovingly with a subtle joy.

Molly looked like she was remembering something horrific. I decided we needed to move on.

"Alright, I'm willing to hear you out on this. What's going on?" I walked past Mab and threw myself down in my armchair, crossing my legs. "Gimme the skinny." I drawled.

Mab looked almost exasperated. Molly grinned.

"We're calling a meeting here in Chicago of the signatories." Mab said.

Molly took over. "With the Red Court singing achy breaky heart down under and the Fomor causing trouble all over we're bringing all sides to the table to discuss matters. We want you to invite The Council in your role as emissary of Winter."

"Why me? Surely you can contact them in other ways." I asked, wary.

"Normally the Gatekeeper would bring the message." Mab said as if it explained everything.

"Then go ask Rashid. I know you have a direct line with him."

Both Lady and Queen were silent.

"Harry. The Gatekeeper is missing." Molly said quietly.

Well. Crap.

"Missing?" I asked, eloquently. "Then who's... keeping the gates?"

"I am." Mab replied.

I let that thought settle for a moment. "Just decided to call in on me during your lunchbreak?"

"I exist in multiple points of space and time simultaneously, Wizard. I have simply taken up another post until the desert fox can be found."

I've tried wrapping my head around the sheer scope of Mab's power before and always found myself coming up short. Fourth dimension stuff can be tricky.

"Hold up. The Gatekeeper has always been hard to find and damn near impossible to contact. What makes you think he's actually missing?"

It was a reasonable question. Rashid was often absent from senior council meetings and was a solitary figure. Maybe the guy just went on holiday? I briefly held the image of him lying on a beach in Hawaii sipping daquiris, cloak and all.

"The Gatekeeper and the Queen of Winter have a connection that's similar to that red phone in the Oval office." Molly exlained. "Priority contact. He hasn't been attending Council meetings and he physically cannot ignore a call made on that line."

"Huh. Y'know Molls. It kind of felt like you were dumbing that down for me."

"Who me? Nope. You're still Yoda." She smiled sweetly. The smile did all sorts of things to the Winter mantle's seemingly eternal caveman side.

I'm with Murphy. I'm with Murphy. I'm with Murphy.

The mantle protested but I ignored it.

"Sir Knight, I can see beyond the wall. A great host moves forward through the void as we speak. They encroach on our reality in numbers as we have never before seen. A siege of this magnitude will require both Queen and Gatekeeper to be present. I require you to find Rashid... presently."

Mab said this clear as day not two feet away from Molly and I but her eyes were glazed, a thousand miles – or likely far more – away. Hell's Bells she was worried. I'm pretty sure the last time Mab was worried there was an ice age.

"Okay, summon the White Council to a meeting and find the Gatekeeper. As tasks go, this actually shouldn't be too difficult. Where was he last seen?"

"That's the difficult part, Harry." Molly said. "You know he hops around, exists in many places and times much as Mab does."

"I just thought he had a buttload of frequent flyer miles, actually."

"It's impossible to track a being that moves like that. The last person we know that has seen him is you, at the Outer Gates." Molly said.

"That was like two years ago! Nobody thought to sound the alarm a bit sooner? Maybe before the Uruk Hai charge the wall?"

"The Gatekeeper always arrives before I have need of this 'hotline' Molly refers to. Regardless, the host will arrive at the gates in three days by your reckoning. I suggest you hurry, my Knight. I will expect the Council representatives at accorded neutral ground here in this city by tomorrow night."

I sighed. Just once I'd like to have a deadline over three days in length.

"Okay. I'm on it. I'll arrange someone to look after Maggie."

Mab looked vaguely surprised. "What's wrong, my Queen?" I asked, infusing my voice with honey soaked sweetness.

"Normally you require much more coaxing to cooperate. This is... refreshing." I swear if she hadn't been acting weirdly distracted it would have been much more smug.

"Well when you're not asking me to murder people I can be much more receptive. Strange, right?"

Mab inclined her head and reached out, touching my face. "Dear Knight, do you really think you can avoid bloodshed? Good luck."

A chunk of ice that had nothing to do Winter slid into my stomach and I really, really hoped she was wrong. I told myself I should know better.

Mab turned on her heel and left my sitting room. Molly followed and hugged me tightly. I felt her cool breath on my neck as she pressed against me. Molly wasn't a short woman but I was NBA tall and she had to stand on tiptoes to whisper in my ear. "She resents that you're still you, Boss. Mantles don't always win out." She kissed me on the cheek and the gastro-burg melted like snow in July. Then she was gone and I was alone with my thoughts.

She'd called me boss.

Molly was still somewhat... Molly.

Hope is a dangerous thing.

I made dinner, Spaghetti Bolognese. It was Maggie's favourite and she tore into it at the dinner table while Mouse looked on in apparent amusement. I'd seen him tear boogeymen apart with less vigour than my daughter attacking the pasta. Then again, Mouse wasn't your avarage pooch.

At ten years old and about as heavy as Casper, Maggie had long dark hair and eyes like her mother. Her chin, though, was all Dresden. She was perfect.

"Maggie?" I started, trying to get her attention. She stopped wolfing and looked up, one long string of spaghetti trailing from her mouth. She either didn't notice or didn't care. "I have to go to work tonight. I might be gone for a few days but if I can I'll stop in for bedtime tomorrow. No promises though, squirt."

She threw me a half disgusted look. "Daaaaad." She said, drawing it out like a kid in a tv movie. "I thought we were watching Frozen tonight?"

Damn that movie. I've had just about enough of ice Queens in the last few years but in the last few months of being a proper father to Maggie I'd watched the Disney film half a gajillion times. The look on her face as she ran around the room singing along made it possible to overlook the irony.

"Uh yeah but you've heard me sing and Alicia is far better. She's coming over soon."

Maggie's face split wide open in a fantastic smile. I'd unkowingly sent her to live with the Carpenters just before I'd died and being the people they are she grew close to them. Micheal always said he could never be a replacement for her real father and he might be right but I felt a lot better knowing he'd been the one to look after her in my... absence.

She annihalated the rest of her dinner and ran to her room to pack a bag. Mouse padded over to the table and lay his head beside my plate.

"What?" I asked. "No. You know the drill, you're with the kid on this one." I swear he looked at me in haughty disdain as he strode off down the hall after my daughter.

Sometimes it felt like I had three kids.

Alicia arrived a short while later carrying a bag of books and a heartwarming smile. I couldn't bring myself to mention her being played by Molly. That was a can of worms that didn't need opening. At least not yet.

I rose from the table and went down the hall to check in on my other little girl.

A while ago I'd been in imminent danger of my head exploding from the growing spiritual presence incubating in it. I'd found out that the presence was actually a child of sorts. Offspring belonging to me and the shadow of a fallen angel who lived in my head and had died to save my life.

My life jumped the shark multiple seasons ago.

Molly was the one to save me. Using her talent for mental manipulation she delivered my spirit baby and saved my life in the process. The girl had talent well before she was Winter Lady. I didn't even need a Kleenex.

I opened the basement door and headed downstairs. My new home had been built in the sixties and whatever blessed, paranoid soul had commissioned it had seen fit to dig deep foundations.

Really deep foundations. At the rear of the basement was a heavy steel hatch with one of those wheel locks you see on safe doors and submarine hatches. I hauled it open and took the ladder down to my very own nuclear bomb shelter-cum-laboratory of arcane hijinks.

It was quite a bit more spacious than my old lab but still managed to retain the neatly cluttered look every self respecting wizard should display. The walls were lined with shelves that were meant to hold dried goods during an emergency. They fulfilled their purpose somewhat well as they hosted a variety of exotic potion ingredients including various dried and pickled monster parts.

At the far end of the room was a small desk with a crudely carved wooden skull. The skull was a spare vessel I'd made for a perverted spirit of intellect I used to work with. These days Bob was running around playing sidekick to the newest Knight of the Cross and the vessel housed my teenage spirit kid.

"Celeste," I called. "I'm home."

The skull's eyes flared to life in brilliant green and a nova of twinkling lights danced forth. She'd been weak when we'd first met, barely able to stay awake. That hadn't lasted long. She'd recovered fully in the course of a day and been a literal ball of energy ever since.

"Harry!" The spirit cried as she circled my head in excitement. "Are we going out?"

Celeste had been tireless in her quest to live as she put it and I could rarely deny her. In the last few months I'd done what I could to show her new experiences. She had a photographic memory and posessed the entirety of her parents combined knowledge. Given that her mother was a fallen angel who'd been around for God knows how long it covered a lot.

Not ice skating though or juggling or any of a number of countless things Lash had known of but never experienced first hand.

"Not tonight, kid. I have to go on a job."

"Is it a Winter gig?" She asked, worry lacing her voice as the lights quivered. Celeste wasn't easily fooled.

"Yeah. Big things are going down and I have to go to Edinburgh tonight. For the duration I'm gone I give you permission to move around the house freely and keep watch. If you're in danger and your vessel if compromised you can move to the hidey-hole."

The Hidey-hole is the nickname she'd given the emergency sanctum I'd enchanted and sealed inside a bronze circle buried twelve feet down in the garden. The circle would activate upon her energy crossing into it and seal her in. More importantly it should seal anything else out. Spirits of intellect are extremely powerful and if anyone were to find out just how unique Celeste was I had no doubt she'd attract a few shady types.

"Okay but I'd feel a lot better accompanying you. I could useful." She said, flitting around my head hopefully.

"You know we can't risk bringing you near Edinburgh. If you were discovered there'd at least be some sort of enquiry and I promise you those are boring as heck."

The lights dimmed slightly and drooped in the air.

"You can still help though. What did Lash know about the Gatekeeper?" I asked. If I was going to find Rashid I'd need every bit of information I could dig up on the man.

"Which one?" She asked.

I'll admit this confused the hell out of me. "There's more than one?"

"The position has been held by various individuals throughout time." She replied as if it was the most obvious statement ever. Tch. Teenagers.

"Let's start with Rashid."

"Okay well he was born somewhere in Egypt give or take a thousand years ago. He was the one who tracked down and finally killed the warlock Abdul Alhazred for breaking the seventh law of magic. Repeatedly. In a big way."

I felt a shiver run down my spine. Abdul Alhazred was more commonly known as The mad Arab. He was the guy who wrote the Necronomicon. Lovecraft embellished a lot but a surprising amount of his fiction was based more or less on fact and Alhazred was evil on a legendary scale.

It fit that the Gatekeeper was the one to put him down.

"What else do you know about him?"

"His home is a complete mystery, as are most of his comings and goings. Lasciel only actually encountered him once and that was at the signing of the Unseelie Accords. He is very fond of chocolate cake. It was his desert of choice."

I blinked. "That's it?"

"By all accounts he is a very secretive Wizard." She said simply.

I had been hoping for more information from Celeste but it really would have just made things too easy. Couldn't have that.

"Okay thanks. I'll try to find out more at Edinburgh." At least I hoped I could or this investigation would go cold before it was lukewarm.

I moved to the only bare patch of wall in the Lab, a space where it looked like a door would have once sat nicely.

An effort of will and vertical sweep of my staff created a tear in the wall that widened to fit the silhouetted door and suddenly I was looking into the Nevernever.

I made sure to check what was on the other side of reality before I bought the house. I'd made the mistake of not doing that at my old place and when I needed a quick escape I wasn't sure I wasn't jumping into a pool of superheated plasma or simply appearing a mile in the air.

The nevernever side of my home was actually... boring. It was a nice change.

I made to step through but twirling lights appeared in front of me.

"Be careful, Harry. I'm not done with you yet." Celeste said before darting off into her sanctum.

I smiled to myself and stepped through the doorway.

The Nevernever is a strange place. I'd seen caverns of crystal of seemingly endless height, seas of fire with rolling tides and forests of dandelions taller than myself. Entering from the mortal world at one point could lead you to a beautiful summer glade but opening a gateway ten yeards away and you could find yourself at that sea of fire I mentioned. It's all relative.

My new street hadn't had much of a turbulent history and more importantly it was a place of happiness and peace. The Nevernever reflected that. I emerged on the shore of a large crystal blue lake. It stretched for miles into the distance, narrowing as the land on either side rose into steep points that formed a kind of natural gate.

The land above the shoreline was a sea of lavender wildflowers interspersed with the largest willows I'd ever seen. The whole place exuded a sense of true, still peace and it made me wary.

I wrapped my hand around my silver pentacle amulet and infused it with a tiny amount of will. The ruby in the center shone brightly and I heard my mother's voice like a soft breeze in the back of my mind.

Ah. Back at the Lough.

The knowledge my mother had stored in the ruby was the culmination of her life's travels throughout the Ways of the Nevernever. When I'd first come here she'd given me the gist of what this place was. It was a resting point, a crossroads for weary travellers. That didn't exactly mean it was safe. No place is truly safe in the Nevernever and the Lough had seen battles of its own but as places in Oddworld go, it wasn't bad.

Another whisper of will and my mother's memories informed me that the quickest Way to Edinburgh ran through a grove of the giant willows farther up the shore.

It took two hours of hard trekking through the loughlands, a hop and a skip into mortal Portugal and another Way before I arrived at an evergreen forest and the entance tunnel to headquarters. It would have been far less physical effort to have taken the way in the meat plant in Chicago but time flows strangely in the Nevernever and I had a deadline. As far as I could tell only fifteen minutes had passed since I left my lab.

The entry tunnel was in a word, eclectic. The glowing crystals dispersed around the walls and roof of the tunnel provided a soft warm glow but the air itself was cold and damp. It was narrow and not much taller than myself. Now and then a particularly large crystal would jut downwards from the roof and I'd duck my head to avoid being scalped.

Carvings of all sorts line the walls, weaving between the crystals. Some were medieval scenes of battle and triumph, showing the White Council casting down evil in all their righteous glory while still more were complicated runes that sent shivers down my spine with the sheer menace of their power. I approached the first guardpost, a large iron gate manned by a young warden and a pair of stone temple dogs that could literally sniff out trouble.

"I seek entry to the Hidden Halls, O Warden. May I pass?" I called.

Instead of the common reply the Warden swallowed nervously and tightened the grip on his staff.  
"Warden Dresden. I am under orders to escort you to Warden Luccio upon chance of your arrival." He hesitated. "If you please."

I blinked. This kid was barely over twenty and seemed to be clumsily trying to arrest me. Once upon a time I might have been a little snarky towards him but the kid was just doing his job.

"That's fine, Warden. I need to talk to the Captain anyway. Lead on."

We passed several more guard posts and a warden who hurried in the opposite direction, presumeable to replace my escort. Before long we were through the lower chambers and arrived outside a pair or large doors. It was the entrance to the Worry room.

The Worry room is one of those places you see in movies based on rich guys who have luxurious dens. It was all dark oak, scattered booksehlved and great studded wingback armchairs. Here and there there were nooks of various sizes for more private conversations. The two focal points were the huge roaring hearth and the bar opposite it. It was a place for people to try to wind down, whether after a run in with a particularly nasty warlock or a long day of council politics.

I walked ahead and took a seat at the bar and my escort followed.

"So do we just wait here?" I asked.

"The wardens at the other posts will have sent a message ahead. We wait."

"I'll have a beer then." If I was going to wait patiently for the adults to arrive I was at least going to enjoy a drink.

"Uh, I don't really-" He started.

I stared at him with as level a gaze as I could muster and he got up to get me a beer. I could learn to enjoy notoriety.

"Get one for yourself too, kid." I added. He hesitated once more before reaching down and drawing himself a bottle.

"How long have you been a warden?" I didn't recognise him but that didn't say much. During the war with the Red Court we lost a lot of good wizards, young and old.

"Two months, Sir."

I pegged his accent for Australia or New Zealand. "How are you finding guard duty?"

"Boring enough but peaceful." I nodded in understanding.

We drank together for a short while. He looked like he was itching to ask me a question but couldn't quite bring up the nerve. I set my beer down.

"Spit it out." I said.

"He looked set to deny it but when I gave him a look he deflated a little. "Sir, there are all sorts of stories about you and I'm here drinking a brew beside you. Like, did you really destroy the Red Court by yourself?"

I thought about that for a moment.

"Not by myself, no. A lot of good people went to war with the Red Court that night. I used their magic against them and they bit it but without the people who helped me I couldn't have ever got that far."

He looked like he wanted to ask more but the doors opened again and Anastasia Luccio walked ahead of The senior council. Or part of it. Gregori Cristos, Listens to wind, The Merlin and my grandfather Wizard McCoy followed her.

"Howdy folks. Thanks for the warm welcome." I saluted them with my bottle.

The room tensed slightly but I noticed everyone had a different reaction. My young escort did everything but openly gape at my brashness. Luccio nodded in return. Cristos glowered at me like a comic book villain, Listens to wind had the slightest ghost of a smile on his lips and my grandfather looked stony and impassive. Apart from the way his eyes glittered. It was only then I wished I took the time to contact him sooner. I'd owed him that at least.

The Merlin himself was stoic as always.

"Sir Knight." The Merlin replied curtly.

Ouch. With two words Langtry had distanced me from the White Council, clearly intending it to become the official stance.

"Wizard Rashid informed us of your rebirth."

"Technically I was never really dead. Think of it as a vacation if it helps, I'm bound to be owed a few days after winning the war. You're welcome, by the way."

I swear The Merlin's eye twitched slightly. I sipped my beer and caught Ebenezar's eye. He was fighting a grin.

"A war you yourself started if you recall. Regardless. Your actions have been noted in the annals. You were cited for valour posthumously."

I'll be damned if there wasn't another little twitch.

"No cash reward? That sucks." I pouted.

"I'm sure you are more than well compensated in your new role, Sir Knight."

There was the title again. I decided it was time to put a bullet in that particular elephant.

"Yes I'm the new Winter Knight. That doesn't make me Mab's one-stop murder machine or anything so don't get yourselves all wound up about it. I'm still me."

"Hardly a source of reassurance, Dresden." Cristos said, drily.

I threw my hands in the air, exhasperated. "There's just no pleasing you folks."

Anastasia spoke up. She was Captain of the Wardens and my ex-girlfriend. She was well into her two-hundreds but thanks to a psychopathic warlock and body swapping shenannigans she was a pretty little thing with curly brown hair and dimples everywhere. We'd broken up after realising she'd only been dating me because she was brainwashed. It was a blow to my considerable ego but we remained friends.

"Wizard Dresden, despite your heroics during the war and your distinguished service during your time as a Warden, it has been decided that your responsibilities as Winter Knight could compromise your duties. As such you are being released from your duties."

The way she phrased it made it clear she disagreed with the decision but the end result was the same.

"You're firing me? From a gig I didn't want in the first place? Wait. Who's going to be regional commander now?" I asked, suddenly concerned. I never wanted the post but I'd become protective over my territory over the last few years.

"You died, Hoss." My grandfather chipped in. "Or we all thought you did at any rate. The position had to be filled."

"Warden Donnelly in New York took over as regional commander, Harry. He's been doing a good job." Luccio said.

I couldn't believe this. Donnelly was around my age and had anger management issues without much power to back them up. He was skilled in illusions but he couldn't have come close to Molly's talent on his best day and he was hardly a fighter. I hadn't even known he was a Warden.

"Donnelly's a scrub!" I exclaimed, offended. That was my territory and he'd usurped it. I felt like storming over to New York and dropping an iceburg on his weasel head.

I caught myself and took a few breaths, finding my center. I didn't really care. It was the winter mantle making me crazy possessive.

Well, I did care but not enough to whack the guy.

"How do you class a good job these days, Captain? Chicago is being attacked by the Fomor every other month and they're getting bolder."

"We're fighting the Fomor everywhere, Harry. They aren't just interested in Chicago. We're in a new war. Not officially but damned close."

I knew that but being replaced still stung. Donnelly. What a douche.

I decided I was getting off track and Cristos and The Merlin were certainly enjoy watching me off balance. If they wanted the Winter Knight I'd give it to them.

"That's why I'm here actually." I said, standing. "Queen Mab has extended her polite invitation to a summit of the signatories of the Unseelie Accords. Tomorrow night at sundown, neutral ground in Chicago. Fancy casual, BYOB."

There was that twitch again.

"Please inform the Queen of our attendance, with respect, Wizard Dresden." Injun Joe said, cutting Cristos off before he could say anything. "It is past time the signatories sat down to talk."

I nodded a polite thanks towards Joe. He was a good guy all in all and had helped me a few times. I even thought of him as fond of me. Maybe.

"Then it's settled. Job done, invitation delivered, Warden status revoked. Everyone's happy."

The Merlin eyed me. He was the single most powerful wizard on the Council and despite his ridiculous blue robe and Gandalf get-up he could be intimidating as hell. I'd been flippant with him nearly every time I've come across him because I tend to have trouble with authority figures. Every now and then he like to shoot me a look that reminded me if he wished it he could reduce me to a cloud of vapour.

Things were different now. The mantle roared for me to challenge him for his arrogance, that nobody should dare challenge Mab's champion.

I wasn't afraid of him. He wouldn't risk insulting Mab by wiping me out but more than that. Langtry wasn't the enemy in the room. He was old, stubborn, paranoid and had a cut throat moral code but he was a long way from the boogeyman.

"If that is all, honored Merlin, I would have a private word with Wizard McCoy and depart in peace."

The Merlin nodded and turned on his heel leaving the Worry room in a swish of fabulous robes. Luccio grinned at me and followed along with Cristos and Listens-to-wind, glowering and smiling respectively, leaving my grandfather and I alone at the bar. I hadn't even noticed the young Warden leaving.

For a moment the room was silent bar the crackling of the great fireplace and then Ebenezar threw his arms around me in a strong silent embrace.

I swear his eyes were misty when he looked at me, his face a mixture of exasperation and relief.

"It's damn good to see you, Hoss."

"You too, Sir."


End file.
